Oregon State
California
Beavers Just Miss An Upset
October 24, 1999 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 24, 1999
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State couldn't put away several terrific scoring opportunities and the result was a 1-0 loss to 17th-ranked California in MPSF Mountain Division men's soccer Sunday afternoon at Lorenz Field at Valley Stadium. The Beavers (4-10-0 overall, 0-4-0 MPSF Mountain) came up empty despite playing one of their finest games of the season.
Afterward, OSU head coach Dana Taylor looked toward the scoreboard that lists shots, corner kicks and so on, and asked, "Can we put another category up there? How about 'goalposts hit?'"
OSU came that close - literally - to knocking off the Golden Bears (11-3-2, 3-2-1). The most frustrating sequence was in the 64th minute, with the game still scoreless
Justin Kirk's shot from the top of the 6-yard box hit the right post. The Beavers' Greg Howes managed to corral the rebound close to the goal mouth, but his follow shot also clanged off the right post.
California finally took the lead in the 75th minute when Raul Ornelas dribbled in from the right side and shot past OSU goalkeeper Bryan Hill just inside the far post.
"We played for 90 minutes," Taylor said. "Even the goal we gave up wasn't a bad goal - it was just an unlucky deflection that caught a foot that forced it to the far post instead of the near post."
The Beavers were outshot just 19-17 in the game, and OSU had a 10-8 edge in shots in the second half. Besides the back-to-back shots off the post, Oregon State had a number of other shots from close range that went just high or wide.
"We worked hard and I thought we outplayed a very good team," Taylor said. "We showed a tremendous work rate against a team that starts eight seniors, and we started five freshmen. The maturity of our freshmen was awesome and a lot of kids had very solid games."
Hill, who had eight saves, earned praise from Taylor as did freshmen Ryan Foster and Ryan Smith.
"But," Taylor said, "It all comes back to the fact it haunts you every time you can't put the ball in the net."
OSU will play at Sacramento State on Friday at 4 p.m., then return home to meet Cal Poly on Sunday at approximately 2 p.m. Sunday's game is the second game of a doubleheader that also includes OSU's women's team against seventh-ranked Southern California at noon, the doubleheader will mark the final home games of the season for both Beaver squads.
NO. 17 CALIFORNIA 1, OREGON STATE 0
Score by halves:
California 0 1 - 1 Oregon State 0 0 - 0Scoring:
UC-Raul Ornelas (unassisted), 74:23.
Statistics:
SHOTS: California 19, Oregon State 17. CORNER KICKS: California 10, Oregon State 4. SAVES: California 3, Oregon State 8. FOULS: California 8, Oregon State 14.
